Round About A Pound A Week ......... London life and London Poor ..... 1913

“Take a tram from Victoria to Vauxhall Station.  

Get out under the railway arch which faces Vauxhall Bridge, and there you will find Kennington Lane.  

The railway arch roofs in a din which reduces the roar of the trains continually passing overhead to a vibrating muffled rumble.”

And with those opening lines Mrs Maud Pember Reeves plunged into a detailed account of the lives of families struggling to make ends meet in the Lambeth of 1913.*

She was a social reformer and feminist who served on the Executive Committees of the Women’s Trade Union League, the National Anti Sweating League, and the Central Committee for Women’s Suffrage along with the Committee of the Fabian Society.

And it was after a lecture given to the Fabian Women’s’ Group on the Economic Disintegration of the Family in 1908 that she and other members of the group set about recording the daily budgets and lives of working class families in Lambeth.

The book details everything from the area where they lived to the daily battle to bring up a family in damp and lousy properties, while balancing a household budget and the ever present threat of unemployment.

It is a book which compliments that of Robert Roberts’s description of life in Salford at much the same time. **

So given that I will no doubt be returning to the book I shall conclude with a little more from the opening chapter

Lambeth, 1874

“From either end of the arch comes a close procession of trams, motor-buses, brewers’ drays, coal lorries, carts filled with unspeakable material for glue factory and tannery, motor cars, coster-barrows, and people. 

It is a stopping-place for tramcars and motorbuses; therefore little knots of agitated persons continually collect on both pathways, and dive between the vehicles and descending passengers in order to board the particular bus or tram they desire.

At rhythmic intervals all traffic through the arch is suspended to allow a flood of trams, buses, drays and vans, to surge and rattle and bang across the opening of the archway which faces the river.

At the opposite end there is the cross current.  The trams slide away to the right towards the Oval. In front is Kennington Lane and to the left at right angles, a narrow street connects with Vauxhall Walk leading further on into Lambeth Walk, both locally known as the Walk.

Such is the western gateway to the districts stretching north to Lambeth Road, south to Lansdowne Road, east to Walworth Road, where live the people whose lives this book is about.

They are not the poorest people of the district.  Far from it!  

They are, putting aside the tradesmen, whose shops line the big thoroughfares such as Kennington Road, or Kennington Park Road, some of the most enviable and settled inhabitants of this part of the world.  

The poorest people- the river-side casual, the workhouse in-and-out, the bar room loafer – anxiously ignored by these respectable persons whose work is permanent, as permanency goes in Lambeth and whose wages range from 18s. to 30s a week.

Picture; cover Round About A Pound A Week, , Virago ed 1979 featuring an image from the Greater London Council Photograph Library and detail of the area in the 1870s from the 1874 OS for London, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/

* Round About A Pound A Week, Maud Pember Reeves, 1913, Virago ed 1979

**The Classic Slum, Robert Roberts, 1971

That unusual picture of the old parish church ….. with a heap more

 This is one of my favourite pictures.

It has appeared countless times before on the blog, and I never tire of writing about it.

This is the old St Clement’s church which stood in in the parish graveyard on the edge of the village green.

I can’t be sure when the photograph was taken, but it was a Reaud picture postcard and was sent to a Miss Clay of Brooks Bar in the September of 1904.

By then the parish church which had served the township since 1800 had just another 37 years, before it was closed because of frost damage, and its congregation joined those of the new church on Edge Lane.

This tall brick church had replaced an earlier timber building which dated back to the early 16th century, and had originally been the Chapel of Rest for the Barlow family.

It is an unusual image and despite its “colorization” has a lot to offer.  Even after a good ten years of researching its history I have to say it is an ugly building, made more so by the two extensions added in the 1830s.

To our left is an old cottage which dates from the early 19th century and may already have been there when King George lost the American colonies.

In 1841 it was home to John and Mary Taylor. 

In the June of that year he had described himself as an agricultural labourer and a decade later aged 72 he was still working on the land while his wife took in laundry.

Now it is impossible to say which farm he worked for or whether he was part of the casual workforce which found work where they could, but there were three farms around the green and another along what is now Brookburn Road

They rented the house from John Renshaw who had owned properties around Chorlton and paid him 1/6d a week in rent. Now this was about the going rate for such a cottage although rents began at just over a shilling [5p].

The cottage stood on open land with fine views back across the green and out toward the Mersey. Like most homes of the day there was a small cottage garden.

Now using the tithe map it is possible to locate the spot the picture was taken and this was Lough Orchard Meadow which in 1845 was one of the fields James Higginbotham rented from the Egerton estate.

Like the surrounding fields it was meadowland which was set aside for growing early grass.  

Mr. Higginbotham rented land across the township, and lived in the farmhouse facing the church school across the village green.  His house is still there, although the barn beside it has been converted in to residential use.

I will leave it up to you to suggest exactly where that field is today.

Leaving me just to comment on the buildings to the east of the church which included another barn, while  lost behind the trees is the Old Bowling Green Inn, which dated back to the late 17th century and was torn down in 1908 to build the present pub.

And for those who like detail there are the arms of what will be a cart, sticking up into the air.

Pictures; St Clement’s Church, circa 1900, and Mr. Taylor's cottage, circa 1900, from the Lloyd collection 

When history collides with the kitchen …… three tomatoes, two chilli's and a bit of garlic ..... cooking from home no. 6

 The challenge is a simple one.

Three tomatoes, two chilli's, one garlic and some pasta, 2026

Take a handful of ingredients from the kitchen and come up with a favourite meal, while at the same time exploring its history. *

Now Spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncino, or spaghetti with garlic, oil and chilli is a favourite in our house and is simple, consisting of just chilli, olive oil and garlic. 

Now my Silver Spoon Cookbook says I should just fry the garlic and chillies in some olive oil and add the spaghetti by pulling the pasta out with a fork rather than draining it which keeps the pasta moist and just softens the dish. **

As a variation I prefer using linguini and throw in just enough tomato sauce to add a bit of extra colour. 

At which point purists will sniffily point out that I have wandered into making Spaghetti All’ Amatriciana, which blends my chilli, garlic and tomato mix with diced pancetta, which is close, but as a vegetarian would never include meat.

The finished deal, 2026

But then this Neapolitan dish like all peasant meals will change slightly depending on what ingredients are available and on the preferences of the cook.

And essentially whether it is eaten in a rural village or in a tenement in the heart of Naples it essentially just flavoured pasta and all the better for that …… cheap, cheerful and quick to make. 

So today while pasta, garlic and chilli pasta graces the tables of posh restaurants its origins are rooted in poverty.

The same poverty that saw poor Neapolitans living in the back streets of the city use the recycled water from the cooked pasta to wash the pots, because access to water meant a walk down two flights of stairs to a pump in the courtyard.

And before I am accused of making it up this was the everyday chore of a close friend who grew up in Naples during the 1940s, when poverty busied itself in the back streets.

Location; our kitchen

Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson, 2026

*When history collides with the kitchen, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/When%20history%20collides%20with%20the%20kitchen

 **The Silver Spoon, 2005, 2000 Italian recipes

Looking at Eltham in 1930 with the drawings of Llwyd Roberts

Way to the Palace

Today I received a wonderful collection of drawings from my friend Margaret whose husband like me grew up in Eltham.

There are 27 of them in all and they were drawn by Mr Llwyd Roberts and published in the Kentish Times in 1930 and then republished in a slim book in 1966.

And as you do I went looking for copyright permission but given that the Kentish Times has now ceased to publish and the pictures are over 85 years old I think I should be OK.

Mr Roberts was born in Borth in Cardiganshire in 1875 and was articled to a Derby architect later spending  seven years as a draughtsman in Burton Upon Trent before working for a series of Welsh newspapers.

After war service and a period in the British army of occupation he settled in Eltham at Bloxham-gardens working as a topographical artist and concentrating on drawings of the ancient buildings of Kent.

And it will be during this time that he produced the drawings in the book.

Now I have to say that they fascinate me.  Some are quite clearly drawn from his direct observation of the buildings while others may be from earlier pictures and a few are a careful attempt to reconstruct a scene from an earlier period.

All of which may mean that some at least may not be an entirely accurate depiction of the past, but that said I suspect they are as close as we going to get.

And they can be judged against surviving photographs as well as maps and other documents.

At the crossroads, as it might have looked in 1870

So I am for once not going to get too hung up about historical accuracy, after all Mr Roberts was a professional draughtsman engaged in serious representation of  buildings and I doubt that he would have invented much more than the figures who inhabit the pictures.

Added to which there is that simple observation that he was there in Eltham in 1929 and 1930 when the pictures were made and would have known the buildings well.

That should be it but history is an odd and messy subject and does throw up all sorts of coincidences.
So many of us will have stood exactly where he stood and indeed I bet some of his drawings will have graced the walls of our homes.

And it doesn’t end there, Margaret’s husband and I both grew up in Eltham. Margaret was born in Ashton-Under-Lyne where I began my married life, and they were married in the Methodist Church in Waterloo in Ashton having met in Borth while studying.

Added to which when Mr Roberts began his career in Derby my great grandparents were also living in the town.

But that I think is the point to stop and instead promise more of his work over the next few days with a bit more explanation of each drawing.


Locarion; Eltham, London

Picture; the old bridge over the moat of Eltham Palace, and At the crossroads, Llwyd Roberts, circa 1929-30, from Old Eltham, 1966, courtesy of Margaret Copeland Gain

The lost Didsbury pub …………

It was the pub which progressed from being a hotel, went on to have a connection with a snooty fox and ended its days as the Mersey Lights.

The Mersey Hotel opened on November 30th, 1939 and was an impressive place which according to the Manchester Evening News was a “modernistic and scientifically built hotel, with “a futuristic design”, but also reflected “the spirit of the past”, with its half-timbered exterior and grand entrance.

Inside, the hotel was divided into several rooms including a Lounge, Smoke Room and smaller areas, which were decorated with paneled walls and murals.

And in a nice touch of recognition to the “workmen who for the last 12 months have been building the premises”, Groves and Whitnall, who had spent £40,000 on its construction, “arranged that the workmen, including, foreman, joiners, carpenters, bricklayers, plasters, plumbers and other artisans shall have the honour of declaring this magnificent new hotel officially open”.*

We might find this a cynical marketing ploy, but I like to think it was genuine, and as the advert proclaimed, “The Opening Ceremony … performed by the Craftsmen who built it”, represented “A Pageant of Labour”.

A full forty years later I occasionally called in for a drink , and would sometimes be tempted to stay on for the big show, for like many of these big interwar pubs, the Mersey offered live entertainment, which had included, Little and Large, Les Dawson, Bernard Manning and Freddie and the Dreamers.

It is a little surprising today to realize that the Mersey, along with the Princess Club, in Chorlton, the Golden Garter in Wythenshawe and pubs like the Princess on the Parkway attracted many of the top entertainers of the 1960s and 70s, including the Drifters, Bob Monkhouse, Billy J Kramer, Lonnie Donegan and Tom Jones and plenty more.

In later years, Mersey Hotel became the Snooty Fox and later still the Mersey Lights.

Location; Didsbury

Pictures; courtesy of Sally Dervan  

*The Mersey Hotel, Princess Parkway, West Didsbury, Opens Tomorrow Noon, The Manchester Evening News November 29th, 1939

One hundred years of one house in Chorlton …. part 163 …. the Beech Road Six

The continuing story of the house Joe and Mary Ann Scott lived in for over 50 years and the families that have lived here since. *

I have no idea what Joe and Mary Ann thought about their home or for that matter about the other five in the terrace.

He was a builder responsible for many of the smaller properties across Chorlton and built this house in 1915.

I do know that he wanted it to be a little more special than the other five and so added bay windows at the rear, appears not to have installed a kitchen range or a copper in the cellar and went for electric lighting from the outset.

But then Joe and Mary Ann embraced progress and so had a telephone in the early 1920s and a television three decades later, when both were still novelties.

Just how Mary Ann supervised the washing is unclear, but I guess she sent it out to be washed, dried and ironed by one of the many laundries in the area.

Now I can be fairly sure this was so because while the cellar had mains water and the floor sloped gently towards a drain at the front of the house there was no brick-built copper, unlike next door and I suspect the others in the terrace.

But mindful that he was building not one but six houses which would stand out from the rest along Beech Road, he designed them to look the part.

All six would originally have had the same striking leaded lights, and identical front doors.

Now that wasn’t unique to developments across Chorlton and all the features would have been sourced from the same manufacturer but back in 1915 they would have marked the houses out as slightly different to  those further up the road close to the tram office.

And a century and a bit later they retain many of their original features, so looking at them from Rec they do stand out as a rather special and unique development.

Much sought after today the Beech Road Six do not change hands frequently.

In the case of Joe and Mary Ann’s house, there have only ever been four owners of which we were the fourth, and the only family to have children who were born and grew up in the property.  

In our tenure of half a century we kept the changes down to a minimum and even sought to restore bits that had been lost, and I think on balance I did the task with care and a degree of sympathy for the original plan.

Now I know I can be accused of being biased but I maintain and I maintain most strongly that Joe Scott’s six are a tad special.

Location, Beech Road

Pictures; random pictures from the collection of Andrew Simpson 

*The story of a house, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=the+story+of+a+house

Who took away our bus office? …….

It stood on the corner of Barlow Moor Road and Malton Avenue and had been there from 1914.

Our tram and bus office, circa 1920s-30s

It started as the tram office when according to the Manchester Guardian "The Manchester Tramways Committee have bought a piece of land at the tram terminus in Barlow Moor Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, for the purpose of a siding, a veranda and shelter and other convivences"*

And that was what it continued to do well into the 20th century even featuring in a pile of pennies campaign in aid of the Russian Famine Appeal of 1921.**

I doubt it has ever warranted its history being recorded although the blog has gone searching for its story.***

It appears in several photographs and was annually recorded in the street directories until 1969.

Still going as the bus office, 1962

But sometime between then and 1976 it appears to have closed, may have stayed empty for a while and at some point was taken over by the Manchester Diving Group.  I tried calling and emailing the group to ask when they took the site over, but have so far been unsuccessful, but I will try again.

Their site offers up their history but not when they settled in the old tramway office.

I think the end of the office may well have coincided with the reorganization of transport which saw the merger of the corporation bus companies across Greater Manchester into SELNEC in 1969.

My Wikipedia tells me that “SELNEC Passenger Transport Executive, “took over the bus fleets of 11 municipalities, and operationally, the organisation was split into three divisional areas, Northern, Central, and Southern”.****

Now that was a mammoth task and involved the incorporation of the largest bus fleet of Manchester’s 1,500 buses with Ramsbottom’s collection of 12.  

A bus top and former office, 2022

In total there were 2,532 vehicles, and heaps of garages which inevitably led to a series of closures as the Executive sought to rationalise the system.

And I think this may well have been why our office closed.

There will be people who will remember the bus office, and will remember its closure.

Sadly I am not one of them.  It may still have been operational when I washed up in Chorlton in 1976, but I have no memory of it.

So the quest continues to find out just when this happened.

The door to the club, 2022

Answers on a used bus ticket or better still a historic tram ticket and posted to me on facebook, or as a comment.

Location; Chorlton Bus Office, Barlow Moor Road

Picture; the tram office with waiting room, circa 1920s-30s from the Lloyd Collection, Barlow Moor Road, circa 1962 from the collection of George Cieslik, the office 2022, and the door to the Diving Club, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

A thank you to Tony Petrie who sourced street directories from 1929-63 and Andy Roberston for 1969.

*Tramway Shelters, Manchester Guardian, March 11th, 1914

**Mrs. Clara Nicholson of Chorlton ……. the mile of pennies ……. and a Disaster Appeal, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2022/10/mrs-clara-nicholson-of-chorlton-mile-of.html

***The tram office ...... a mile of pennies ..... and the story of Sport Diving in Chorlton, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2022/10/the-tram-office-mile-of-pennies-and.html

****Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Manchester_Passenger_Transport_Executive